Tag - the US 2nd Amendment

….The fact of the matter is that the Founding Fathers made a HUGE mistake in saddling us with the 2nd Amendment….

In the late 18th century, the 2nd Amendment made sense. Calling 911 wasn’t an option, and the average American faced very real and imminent threats of the sort we don’t today. 2013 finds us in a much different world than that of 1789. We have the benefit of the rule of law, efficient and well trained law enforcement, and the most powerful military in the world. Despite those who see violent criminals around every corner, we live in a much safer world today.

The problem we face today is that the 27 vague words that comprise the 2nd Amendment have created the current mess we’re in today…and it’s the Founding Fathers’ fault. If they’d intended for the right to bear arms to be sacrosanct and inviolate, don’t you think the 2nd Amendment would be two sentences instead of one run-on jumble? Their impreciseness has cost thousands of innocent citizens their lives. It’s also created a class of gun nuts who cling to the guns with a love that exceeds anything else in their lives….

The birthright of every American is not the guaranty that they can keep and bear arms; it is the right to a ticket in one of the most peculiar lotteries in the world. You might call it a perverse lottery, since the ticket holder is hoping that their number not be called. A drawing is conducted every day to see which Americans on that day will be maimed or killed by firearms. As national lotteries go, particularly the Powerball lottery that drives Americans to a frenzy whenever the jackpot reaches $300 million or more, the odds of “winning” the Gun Lotto are much, much higher. Each day, on average, 293 Americans are selected to be either killed or injured by gunshot. Of these, 86 will die, most of them by suicide, but 35 of them will be homicide victims.

This is a universal lottery. Just by residing in America, you are issued a ticket, and it is good for as long as you live in America. You cannot escape the Gun Lotto. Its winners are selected whether they are rich or poor – the rich, in fact, have a higher chance of committing suicide with a gun. You cannot escape the Gun Lotto if you own a gun or even multiple guns and are adept at using them only for defensive purposes. Gun owners occupy a special category of winners: those who die by accidental handling of their own guns.

The Gun Lotto, because it is particularly grim, is not televised or broadcast on the radio. Quite the contrary, if the winners get any attention it is only locally, usually among family and friends. Like any lotto, partial prizes are awarded to many more people than those directly killed or injured in the Gun Lotto. Partial winners receive their prize every day, usually for the rest of their life. They live with the emotional loss of a loved one through suicide, or they deal with the consequences of a spouse who is dead or injured, and who no longer can provide for the family. For the direct winners who may have failed at suicide and be brain damaged, or for those who are paraplegics or quadriplegics due to spinal cord injuries, the partial winners face a lifetime of caring for the direct winners. This can mean giving up the rest of your life so you can feed your relative, turn them over daily to avoid bed sores, change their colostomy bag, and otherwise feel as if you, too, were a direct prize winner in the Gun Lotto.

On average, the Gun Lotto awards up to five times as many partial prizes as it does direct prizes. That means about 1,500 people are selected every day to be full or partial winners in the Gun Lotto. The financial effect ripples throughout the economy. It is estimated that a typical handgun costing the owner $50 costs the rest of society over $600 in direct and indirect expenses, such as lost wages, immediate and ongoing medical care, higher insurance premiums for everyone, and family disruption.Read More